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A mixed year for reproductive rights

Canada surely fared better than our retrograde southern neighbour in 2015, but we ought to aim higher in the year ahead.

(Illustration by Tisha D. Myles)

By Emma Healey

Sun., Jan. 3, 2016

The year that just concluded was a turbulent one for women’s reproductive rights and the political conversation that surrounded them. That was especially true across the border, where an already ugly and violent conversation somehow deteriorated further. But it was true, too, in smaller ways here at home. The extent to which a country’s policies and culture protect women’s reproductive rights is a profound test of its character. By that measure, Canada surely fared better than our retrograde southern neighbour in 2015, but we can and ought to aim much higher in the year ahead.

Over the course of 2015, the seemingly endless lead-up to this year’s U.S. presidential election brought new intensity to the debate over abortion in that country. A doctored video by an anti-choice group stoked the fires of right-wing rage against Planned Parenthood and caused a number of Republican senators to call for the organization to be defunded. While Planned Parenthood is no stranger to political posturing and attacks of all kinds, the fatal November shooting at a clinic in Colorado, which left three people dead and nine more injured, was a horrifying reminder of the violent and senseless way the issue has mutated in that country.

Here at home, meanwhile, we continued to build on our relative advantage in reproductive rights, making small strides in the right direction — the most notable of which was the legalization of RU-486, a drug that provides women with safe medical abortions. This year also saw a rise in discussion of the issue in the Maritimes, where there are few clinics and access to crucial services is still severely limited, especially in rural areas. And in June, health officials in Prince Edward Island opened a toll-free hotline to assist women with booking abortions in Moncton, NB without needing a referral from their doctor. (As of Dec. 15, it was reported that 49 women had sought out abortions using the service since the line opened, with 12 more using it to help them seek out other kinds of clinical services.)

But however positive these developments may seem, they also highlight the many ways in which our country is still incredibly far behind the curve on women’s reproductive rights and health. While RU-486 will be available to women in early 2016, it’s already been legal in the U.S., Australia and much of Europe for years.

And that Prince Edward Island phone line is nothing more than a tiny band-aid over an enormous, glaring issue: the fact that the entire province of PEI still has no abortion clinics, and women in that province still do not have safe, legal access to the procedure close to home. Instead, they have to seek out services in Moncton or Halifax, paying for their own travel and accommodations along the way.

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Justin Trudeau’s electoral victory gives some cause for hope that things will change in the coming year. During his election campaign, he said that any new MPs would be expected to vote along pro-choice party lines, should the issue arise. But as with the conservative politicians and activists who promote fear and misinformation around this issue in order to drum up easy support, Trudeau’s position on the subject was designed at least in part to galvanize a key demographic of young left-wing voters; his pro-choice voting requirement doesn’t apply to MPs who were sitting before the recent election, and it’s not yet clear how he plans to manifest his pro-choice views in terms of policy.

In other words, Trudeau’s position on women’s health seems theoretically sound, but practically hazy — a split that’s all too common in the way feminist issues are treated in broader pop-cultural conversations. 2015 was the year many publications realized how much money they could make by commodifying feminist debate into bankable content, and as a result, mainstream conversations about feminism drifted further and further toward easy, divisive arguments designed primarily to grab views and inflame tempers. Take a peek at any website that purports to deal with feminist issues, and you’ll see a lot of conversations about whether a particular person, TV show or film is feminist; whether they perform that feminism the “right” way.

These debates have their place. But it’s truly unfortunate that in 2015 they eclipsed more difficult but crucially important conversations like the one surrounding reproductive rights. For many women, especially those with marginalized identities, the body is the battleground feminism fights both for and upon. Ask yourself: How safe do I feel in my own skin when I leave my house? When I go to work? When I’m having sex? When I visit the doctor? As you move through the world, do you feel as though you live in a culture that wants you to have the power to decide what happens to you with every step? Where you will be able to access the resources you need if you find yourself in danger or crisis?

For anyone who isn’t white, male, cisgender (identified with the sex they were assigned at birth), heterosexual, or living above the poverty line, these questions aren’t theoretical or abstract, and their answers point to the vast constellation of ways in which our country is still lacking in justice, kindness, and practical care for its citizens. Its virulent tone and physical consequences notwithstanding, one of the most depressing things about the ongoing debate over abortion in North America is that there are so many other ways in which it is still achingly difficult for so many people in both Canada and the U.S. to decide what gets to happen to their bodies on a day-to-day basis, for reasons of race and class and gender and sexuality and beyond. That the question of whether abortion should be safe, legal and accessible is still a question at all, when there are so many other urgent and complex issues that deserve our full attention, is deeply troubling.

If we are content to compare our progress on reproductive rights to that of the States, where violence and virulent rhetoric and a hodgepodge of often-backwards policies are normal, our country seems quite well off. A better measure, though, is the actual lived experiences of women, particularly those who might be at an economic or geographic disadvantage, and on that front things are pretty dismaying. Many Canadian women who live in poverty, or outside of major urban centres, still do not always have safe, legal and reliable access to abortions, and that is an enormous problem for a country that makes any kind of claim to progress or inclusivity.

It’s crucially important that we not lose track of the state of reproductive rights in this country, and that we continue to engage with the issues that surround it, because it’s not enough for Canada to be good enough when it comes to the health and safety of women. Nor is it enough for us to be better than the U.S., where things are in a shocking state of crisis. Complacency is one of the most dangerous threats to a woman’s health and right to choose. If we ignore the truth of the issue, we are ignoring the pain and struggles of women across the country.

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